X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 4 marks the onset of Age of Apocalypse - recap ahead

X-Men ’97 Season 2 returned to our screens this Wednesday, with the fourth episode, "Rise of Apocalypse - Part II". The first part of the episode, which was the third one, was released last week, along with the first two episodes. From this week, the Marvel animated series will follow a weekly release strategy. This week's episode opens right where the previous one ended.

The third episode, "Rise of Apocalypse - Part I", was entirely set in the past as we saw the origin of Apocalypse, or En Sabah Nur, as he was called in Ancient Egypt. Magneto claims to be a prophet to Nur, and he aims to guide Nur towards a more noble path. However, Nur discovers that Magneto and others were lying, and he is enraged at his allies.

Nur orders the Sandstormers to execute Magnus, Charles, Rogue, Beast, Bishop, and Nightcrawler. But that's when Pharaoh Rama-Tut fires his celestial-powered weapon at Nur's hideout, setting up the opening scene of the fourth X-Men ’97 Season 2 episode.

X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 4 recap

Here are some of the key moments from the fourth episode of X-Men ’97 Season 2:

Charles teams up with the X-Men's biggest foe

X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 4 opens right in the aftermath of the futuristic Pharaoh's attack on En Sabah Nur's base. An enraged Nur is holding his mentor Baal's body as Magneto has protected Charles, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Bishop, and Beast. Charles convinces Nur to hear him out, and the telepath convinces the ancient Egyptian mutant about being from the future.

Nur surprisingly accepts this, and Charles even convinces his future foe to let him read the first mutant's mind. We learn that Nur was abandoned as a baby and has flashes of his enslavement. Then, we get flashes of a young Nur being contacted by the celestial Eson the Searcher, who convinces the mutant about accessing the temple Charles saw in the third X-Men ’97 Season 2 episode last week.

Meanwhile, Magneto breaks Bishop's timeband to continue the plan of changing the course of history by pushing Nur toward a more noble path. The Master of Magnetism contends that the temple will have the necessary equipment to repair the band. Nur agrees to take the stranded mutants to the temple, which he himself hasn't visited but knows its location.

Rama-Tut contacts Charles

We finally learn the voice Charles heard in the third episode while probing General Logos' mind: Pharaoh Rama-Tut. The Pharaoh confirms something that we knew for a while: He is indeed Kang. He tries to convince Charles to betray Magneto's plan, but the telepathic mutant refuses.

The team reaches the temple

En Sabah Nur, Charles, Magneto, Rogue, Beast, Nightcrawler, and Bishop enter the temple. The team splits up into two factions to explore the temple: Charles, Bishop, and Nur are together, while Magneto, Beast, Rogue, and Nightcrawler find something futuristic. Beast realizes that they have just discovered Apocalypse's ship, something he formed a friendship with in the original 90s animated series.

Simultaneously, Charles, Bishop, and Nur enter a chamber with hieroglyphics depicting the rise of Apocalypse. Even more shockingly, the hieroglyphics also depict Nur in the center ascending to his Apocalypse form in the same chamber, surrounded by six figures, none other than Nightcrawler, Rogue, Beast, Bishop, Charles, and Magneto.

Charles tries to warn Magneto that Nur is putting things together that he is meant to be Apocalypse, but it seems that these psychic messages are not reaching the Master of Magnetism because he is wearing the helmet. Nur does realize that the mutants were here to stop him from becoming Apocalypse as we know him, and he attacks Bishop and Charles.

Meanwhile, Eson opens up a chamber to allow Nur to transform into his Apocalypse form. Magneto and others manage to reach Charles and Bishop, and they try to stop Nur from entering the chamber, but fail to do so.

Apocalypse rises

Nur transforms into the Apocalypse, making it look like his rise is inevitable. A guilt-ridden Magneto sends his friends back to the 1990s, but Charles is stuck in the past with him, and the two friends try to stop Apocalypse. Meanwhile, the newly transformed Apocalypse steers the ship to destroy Rama-Tut and his kingdom.

As Magento distracts Apocalypse with a fight, Charles tries to convince the ship's AI to ignore Apocalypse's commands, but the ship reveals that it is programmed to obey only the ancient mutant's orders. Meanwhile, Rama-Tut abandons ancient Egypt in favor of another time period in his comic-book-accurate Kang outfit as Apocalypse's ship begins to destroy the kingdom.

Determined to pay for his mistakes, Magneto ensures the safety of Charles and decides to save the people, even if it kills him. He successfully manages to do so, and he falls close to Charles. But before the two friends could reconcile, Apocalypse walks in and brutally executes the Master of Magnetism. He doesn't kill Charles because he sees the telepath beneath him.

As the telepathic professor mourns his departed best friend, Bishop returns to take Charles back to the 1990s, ending this X-Men ’97 Season 2 episode. However, there is a mid-credit scene in this X-Men ’97 Season 2 episode.

Weapon X

Logan is hidden in the roof of a building as Captain America and Black Widow join him. Cap hands over a file called Weapon X to Wolverine, and the clawed mutant informs Steve that he is putting the old team back together, setting up X-Men ’97 Season 2, Episode 5, which is titled "Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs".

The title looks innocuous on the surface, but it is a follow-up to "Weapon X, Lies, and Video Tape," the sixteenth episode of X-Men: The Animated Series Season 4.

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X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 4 is currently streaming on Disney+.

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